Easter 2024

Here's a digital redraw of an unpublished drawing from two years ago. I tried using watercolour pencils and masking tape, but it turned out to be a disaster and I was disappointed with the whole process. Yet, for this Easter I decided to return to that drawing and do a better job digitally, because I loved the image and the effects. I'm still sad it's not a watercolour drawing as I had imagined it, but... maybe one day.

My socials: https://linktr.ee/grdi

#digitaldrawing #redraw #spring #easter #grdilicious #grdi

Shape Challenge (Scorpius)

I've been lazy this month, I've barely drawn anything. 😔 But in my defense, I've been preoccupied with two things: work (of course!) and bingeing Farscape (wait, what?). Yep, it's the 25th anniversary of this magnificent TV show, I've become obsessed with it like it's 1999 again and I wanted to draw something from it. So here's a random face shape challenge with probably the greatest sci-fi villain of them all,  Scorpius!

I know this blast from the past deserves a much better drawing, but I decided to combine it with some random shapes I found online, hoping it'll be a more interesting choice than just characters in static poses that I usually draw. 🤔

My socials: https://linktr.ee/grdi

#digitaldrawing #artchallenge #shapechallenge #farscape #scorpius #grdilicious #grdi

Background / Negative space

Drawing backgrounds was never my strong suit. My drawing style is all over the place, but I kind of settled for character design with an empty background and occasionally a shadow or an oval representing a shadow. Still, it doesn't mean I gave up on the backgrounds completely. 

I came across a video about negative space and how it can be easily used instead of a full-blown background. According to that theory, it can be almost anything, so I chose geometric shapes, mostly circles and rectangles. They're usually abstract or simplified but they're not always just random fillers - at least I'm trying to make a meaningful frame for the illustration when I can, tell some kind of a story if possible and I sometimes surprise myself with the ideas I come up with.

Here are some examples from this year. 

My socials: https://linktr.ee/grdi

#digitaldrawing #background #negativespace #grdilicious #grdi

Odd Yuckly #68

 

Swifters? Swiftonians? Oh, Swifties!

---------------------------------

#comic #comicstrip #webcomic #taylorswift #swifties #grdi #grdilicious #grdicomics

Tanz in deiner Wohnung

As I mentioned in my monthly review, there was another illustration I finished in February, but it was for a competition that was still going on at the time, so I didn't want to post it before it was over. Well, now that it's over (and I didn't win anything), I guess it's as good a time as any to post it now. I had high hopes and I'm quite proud of the way it turned out, but you win some, you lose some.

This time I'll post it as it is, without any explanation and see if you can guess what the theme of the competition was.

My socials: https://linktr.ee/grdi

#digitaldrawing #grdilicious #grdi

PRO & CON: Descriptions

I'm not the only one here losing the algorithm game, but to be honest, I'm not even playing it right. There are rules, but there are also other things many users do which I'm not ready to copy. One of them is show, don't tell, or more precisely: imply, don't explain.

I don't like to play such games - I usually post an illustration and then a description that often reaches the character limit. And apparently therein lies the problem: I write too much, explain everything and don't leave room for mystery and clickbaits, which seems to be a real key to success, according to some more clever artists.

Many of them just post their work and write little or nothing because they know their followers would be curious, leave tons of comments and in doing so boost engagement on their post, making it seem more relevant than it originally was. If you want to find out anything, you're forced to go through the comments and maybe leave your own, just adding to that post's popularity and putting it on the algorithm's nice list.

I've seen it too many times and I'm not going to throw names, but there are some very popular users among them. That's also the reason why they appear more often in my feed, but when I see the cryptic nature of their posts, hundreds of pointless comments without direct answers and then tons of likes, I realize how unfair this game really is.

What I sometimes do is deliberately make small "mistakes" in my drawings or write something that could be considered somewhat provocative or controversial, but even then there are no reactions at all, people probably don't read long posts. At this point I feel like I could get away with posting just about anything.

And although I claim I'm doing all this only for myself, it makes me wonder over and over again: Is my "art" good enough? I believe I've had some surprisingly good ideas throughout the years, but they haven't been noticed because I don't play such silly games.

My socials: https://linktr.ee/grdi

#digitalart #grdilicious #grdi

My monthly review: February 2024

My monthly review: February 2024

• A stylus for one of my tablets stopped working so I got a new one. I wasn't worried much because it was for my PC and I've been drawing on my Galaxy tablet since I got it anyway, so the PC became my backup plan (plus the mini Huion tablet I can use with my laptop), but it's useful with more complex projects (for example my latest digital art collage).

• That's right, I finished the collage of my digital drawings from 2016-2019 just as I planned. It was challenging to fit all those characters I had drawn over the period of four years in one collage and the final result looks great. 🏆

• Webruary (Spider-Man related art challenge) was the only challenge I took part in. There are three drawings: my OC Davorachnid and two Spider-Women from the movie "Madame Web". I skipped Styluary this year. 🕸

• I wrote a poem about my workplace and also drew a depiction of how I look at the current issues. Nothing positive, I'm afraid. 🤷‍♂️

• I made an illustration inspired by Paul Wetz's video for his latest hit "Ode an den Bass". He's a German singer, songwriter and producer whose music became my new obsession. 🎶

• I finally revived my comics account by posting three new episodes of Odd Yuckly! And there are more to come. 😉

• I continued posting Stories and Reels, but didn't work on my YouTube Shorts as I said I would, and I hesitate to post on TikTok because I just don't like the app. There are too many people I'd rather not have following me (especially work related), but somehow they keep popping up in my suggestions. 😭

• I was sure I'd find time to go back to traditional art techniques but it hasn't happened yet. 🎨

• I actually drew one more illustration before the end of the month, but it was for an art competition so I won't post it just yet. Let's see if luck is more benevolent than the Internet algorithm. 🤫

My socials: https://linktr.ee/grdi

#digitaldrawing #mymonthlyreview #february2024 #grdilicious #grdi